In Case You Missed It: Mitt Romney's Black Monday Started with a Campaign Post Mortem

Image from source, Politico

Did you see this? I know that yesterday's new cycle was taken over by a discovered Mitt Romney video, in which he insulted almost half of America. But Mittens' day didn't start out much better. He was greeted by a multi-page, in-depth post mortem of his campaign. Now, obviously, it can't be a literal autopsy of a campaign that still figuratively draws breath. But this sort of deconstruction of the weaknesses of a presidential campaign typically only appears after the patient has died. So, its appearance in the September before the election is kind of peculiar, and makes you think that Politico sees the Romney campaign as the walking dead.

[Excerpt]

Inside the campaign: How Mitt Romney stumbled

Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, knew his candidate’s convention speech needed a memorable mix of loft and grace if he was going to bound out of Tampa with an authentic chance to win the presidency. So Stevens, bypassing the speechwriting staff at the campaign’s Boston headquarters, assigned the sensitive task of drafting it to Peter Wehner, a veteran of the last three Republican White Houses and one of the party’s smarter wordsmiths.  Not a word Wehner wrote was ever spoken. . .

Read more at: Politico

Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Accuser Breaks Silence

This, I'm assuming, is not the woman in question.
Image from Politico

Hey, Herman. . .blame yo'self!

[Excerpt]

Herman Cain allegation: Accuser breaks silence
The attorney for one of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment said Friday that the then-National Restaurant Association CEO engaged in “inappropriate behavior” and “unwanted advances” that led to a cash payout in 1999.

The woman declined to reveal her identity or detail the nature of the claim. . .

Well then, they can't say she's some sort of fame-seeker, can they?


Read more at: Politico

Nevada GOP Caves on Caucus/Primary Calendar

Churchy, Crazy, Crazy Bread, Ken Doll, Dummy, Fatso and
Battsina Belfry.  Image from source, Politico.

I love the headline from the story excerpted below. Nevada's trouble-making Republican Party caused the problem in the first place!

[Excerpt]

Nevada helps resolve calendar chaos

Finally conceding defeat to New Hampshire in the Republican calendar stare-down, Nevada’s GOP on Saturday voted to move its caucus date from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner is now expected to set his state’s first-in-the-nation primary for Jan. 10. He will not make any announcement before Monday, his office said Friday. . .

Read more at: Politico

Chris Christie Not Entering Race. . .Or Is He?

Chris Christie, apparently "The Ronald Reagan of the United States"
immediately before he ate the microphone. Image from Politico.

I don't know which is funnier, the fact that Republicans are desperate for a replacement candidate for President, or that the beltway press can't take no for an answer. All eyes were on a Chris Christie speech being given on Tuesday night. When asked whether or not he was running, he mentioned a Politico video clip of Christie saying "no," over and over again. That is the answer, he said. And yet, Politico itself is saying he left the question open? That's the only reason I have a question in my headline. . .I'm not a beltway pundit, what do I know? But it sounded like an answer to me.

[Excerpt]


Chris Christie leaves 2012 run question open, attacks Obama

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie confirmed he’s thinking about getting into the presidential race to an audience literally begging him to get in. . .



Read more at: Politico

Donald Trump Can't Take a Joke

Donald Trump: Ugliest man to run for president since Rudy Giuliani.
Image from source, Politico

The White House Correspondents Dinner (I still want to throw an apostrophe in there, even if no one else does) is often entertaining, and as you'll see if you scroll down a couple of posts, this year's was too. Largely due to the endlessly mockable "candidate" for President, Donald Trump. For some reason, somebody at the Washington Post invited The Donald to come along, and like the big doof that he is, he went.

So, Capt. Ego had to sit there while Saturday Night Live head writer Seth Meyers and President Obama himself comedically ripped him a new one. Trump didn't like it much. In fact, he didn't even attempt to fake a smile to show that he's a good sport. That fact--his seeming inability to laugh at himself--is going to be his undoing, assuming that his candidacy is legitimate at all. . .something that is decidedly dubious. Because if Trump thinks that these relatively tame jokes were insufferable, imagine how he's going to take serious challenges.

And it has to be said that besides being a clownish bully, The Donald's appearance--never being his strong suit--is a gigantic liabilty. As a long-time unphotogenic person who is unhappy with what age is doing to me, I feel suited to the task of calling him out on this. Trump can't do much about his ogre-ish face, save plastic surgery, which would only bring him more ridicule. But that hair and those eyebrows. . . This man has been parodied since the 1980s (most notably by Berkeley Breathed in Bloom County) for his ridiculous coiffure. And yet he keeps growing it out, and piling it up with pounds of product into that unappetizing confection. Remember when the "in" thing was to try to hit pundits and politicos with a pie to the face? I have a suggestion for somebody:  throw a bucket of water on Trump's 'do. You'll be famous!!!

[Excerpt]

Donald Trump pushes back at prez jokes



Donald Trump pushed back Sunday at President Barack Obama for making him the "focus of the evening" in his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech, and laced into Saturday Night Live comedian Seth Meyers as a "stutterer" whose delivery was lacking. . .


Read more at: Politico

Health Care Reform Opponents Turning to Threats, Violence

Image from source, Politico

My prediction, after the passage of health care reform, was that this massive over-the-top rage from conservatives and tea baggers would fizzle out. I still think it will, eventually. But not right away. They've had their paranoid, delusional anger stoked by FOX "News" for a steady year. Big corporations have funded their "grass roots" gatherings, and given them a place to congregate where everyone else also hates the Marxist, communist, Muslim, statist, fascist, Maoist, Kenyan, socialist, black President Obama and all of his associates. Right-wing talk radio has spewed forth the afore-mentioned adjectives, along with many others at the speed of a machine gun. And politicians like John Boehner, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have visibly and vocally egged them on.

Health care reform was painted as the most evil, anti-American, democracy-ending issue to ever roll down the pike. This thing was puffed up as a death-blow to our very nation. And it passed. Some recognize all the invective as merely political rhetoric, over-inflated hyperbole to get the electorate agitated enough to pay attention (and grab ratings, of course). But we aren't an overly bright nation. Or rather, the dumb tends to rise to the top. And the crazy. What do these now rabid people now do with all their rage? We're starting to find out. The question is, will this ultimately fizzle? Or will it just gather more steam?

[Excerpt]

The backlash: Reform turns personal

Reps. Louise Slaughter and Bart Stupak have received death threats.

A tea party participant published what he thought was Rep. Thomas Perriello’s home address and urged disgruntled voters to “drop by” for a “good face-to-face chat.”

Vandals broke windows at Slaughter’s office in New York and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s office in Arizona. . .

Read more at: Politico

Political Hissy Fits

Image from source, Politico

Now's as good a time as any for this piece from Politico, an excellent assessment of all the noise we're hearing out of Washington DC right now. It tries to play "both sides are equally bad" a little to hard, but other than that a great read.

[Excerpt]

The pros and cons of hissy fits

In the course of 24 hours this week, a viral Web video portrayed a Republican congressman calling the president the “enemy of humanity,” a Democratic congressman warned sick people that Republicans “want you to die quickly,” and a New York Times columnist suggested that all the hot talk might lead to acts of violence.

To which the chairman of the Republican National Committee replied: “Nut job. . .”

Read more at: Politico

The Elite Media Aplogizes to Sarah Palin. . .Not!

Photo from source, Politico

I was incredulous when I heard that John McCain and his campaign had issued an edict to the mainstream press: Stop digging up stuff about Sarah Palin! She's off limits! An unknown candidate for Vice President is off limits for investigation? A person seemingly unvetted by the Republican candidate for President is to just be left alone? Insane.

Of course, they pretended that the press was only after salacious stuff, and that it wasn't proper. Some may have been tabloid stuff, but it was only natural given the unknown quantity of Sarah Palin, and the very odd story that was being told. Many more of the stories were actual news.

Anyway, as a blogger, I do not and will not take orders from John McCain. The much more widely heard radio host, Randi Rhodes said much the same thing, with a throaty laugh I only wish I could muster. And we weren't the only ones feeling that way. . .

[Excerpt]

Why the media should apologize

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry. We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked. We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. . .

Read more at: Politico

Have You Heard About Sarah Palin's Radical Church?

Photo from MSNBC

Big, giant you go girl! to Rachel Maddow, who on MSNBC may have just given us a preview of what her new show may bring to the world of cable news. There has been a maddening sameness, if not in tone, in the stories that are covered by three major cable news channels. With the noted exception if Countdown with Keith Olbermann, whatever one channel is covering on a given day, so are the other two.

Maddow just unleashed a bombshell on the post-Republican National Convention coverage, regarding Sarah Palin's church. I knew of this story because I listen to Maddow's radio show, but I had yet to hear it anywhere else. Chris Matthews was obviously taken aback, asking Maddow, "what's your source?" "Politico.com," answered Maddow.

Now, assuming the source holds up, and that the story has been drug out kicking and screaming to an apparently unwilling cable news, what will become of it? We had to listen to weeks of denouncements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor, for Wright's "anti-American" comments. "Why did Obama stay in that church?" was the refrain asked again and again.

Despite the common wisdom that the media is "in the tank" for Obama, this story hounded him well past the point that anyone should have cared. Will the story Maddow brought to light have the same effect on Palin? At least Maddow gave it a shot.

[Excerpt]

Jewish voters may be wary of Palin

Barack Obama has struggled for 18 months to lock down the support of a traditionally Democratic group, Jewish voters.

In the past week, John McCain may have helped Obama with his Jewish problem by choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. . .

Read more at: Politico